Changing the Future
by LilyCalliePotter
Summary: the order from 1979 gets visits from people in the past of 1975, the future of 1995 and 2003 to all read the harry potter books and change the future
1. Chapter 1 The change in the past

December 1979 - Order of the Phoenix meeting

Albus Dumbledore, Alastor Moody, Dedalus Diggle, Marlene McKinnon, Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom, Emmeline Vance, Remus Lupin, Benjy Fenwick, Edgar Bones, Sturgis Podmore, Caradoc Dearborn, Rubeus Hagrid, Elphias Doge, Gideon Prewett, Fabian Prewett, Aberforth Dumbledore, Dorcas Meadows, Sirius Black, Lily Potter, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Minerva McGonagall were all sitting in headquarters discussing the recent death eater attack in a muggle town when a bright light flashed so brightly it was blinding, all the order members jumped up, wands out, both Frank and James stood in front of their pregnant wives, as the light faded back to normal the Order could see 22 people of different ages; the youngest being about 5, while the oldest about 40ish.

'Who are you and what do you want?' Albus Dumbledore demanded facing the new crowd, every Order member still aiming their wands at them.

'Now I never thought the Order would raise their wands at me, but then again this is the year before I am born' Harry said with a smile, 'introductions; this is Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Black, Severus Snape and Regulas Black all from 1975.' pointing at said people who stood all close together looking confused, 'from 1995 is Remus Lupin, Nymphadora'

'Harry never call me Nymphadora!' Tonks yelled at him.

'As I was saying, Nymphadora Tonks who prefers to be called Tonks, Sirius Black, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George Weasley, Draco Malfoy. And lastly from 2003 is; Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom; Frank and Alices' son, Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Teddy Lupin and I am Harry Potter, Lily and James' son'

'Impossible how can you be from different years? And what do you want if you are who you say you are?' Dumbledore spoke again, the rest of the Order was shocked at what had been said, but still kept their wands pointed at them.

'Simple I can give you information about some of you that I wouldn't know unless I was from the future, Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore, I know all about your sister Ariana, what happened when she was 6, what then happened when she was 14 and how she died, Aberforth you explain it properly to me, Ron and Hermione after Rita Skeeter' Harry spat that name, 'wrote about you Albus.' both Dumbledore's eye were wide. 'Both Lily and Alice are pregnant at the moment, they haven't told the rest of the Order yet and that is why Frank and James are standing in front of them from the moment we entered, there is a prophecy which dumbledore was going to tell you about but the books will explain it better, and you are both due at the end of July. The Marauders I know about Remus, what you have done to help him, the nicknames, the map, the cloak. I could explain it all now but I don't think you want everyone to know about it yet' the marauders looked even more shocked at this, they knew they wouldn't tell anyone about it unless they were their children and then they would still be careful as the were unregistered. 'Fabian this is your watch, your sister gave it to me on my 17th birthday, check it out if you wish to,' Harry took of said watch throwing it towards Fabian who caught it, looked at it really carefully before passing it back. 'As to why we are here is because the future is not brilliant, the war pauses for some years before it is back in full force, Voldemort' a lot of people flinch 'dies in the end but we lost to many casualties from mistakes and also no one knowing that it is impossible to kill Voldemort' more flinching 'now for he had gone way past evil and normal to try and make him self immortal, you can use truth serum if you wish to, but we have 7 books for us all to read for you to find out about the future in detail that I or anyone could not give, then you should be able to improve the future. Do you wish to read?'

The whole Order looked at them before Albus Dumbledore nodded. Teddy looked around and noticed the older Remus and Tonks

'Mama, Dada' he cried pointing at them.

'I have a son!' both Remus' and Tonks exclaim as one.

'Yeah.' Harry replied trying to look happy.

'Is he, like me?' both Remus' asked scared that they could have passed on their condition.

'No, he isn't. Can we call the older Sirius and Remus Padfoot and Moony to avoid confusion?' they both nodded, Tonks walked over to Teddy and picked him up into a tight hug and sitting down with him in her arms, Moony hugged both of them.

'Shall we start reading?' Harry asked the group, they all nodded and Harry picked up the first of the seven books he brought with him.

**Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone**

'The Philosophers Stone?' Moony asked looking thoughtful, as did the other smart people while Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.


	2. Chapter 2 The Boy Who Lived

The Boy Who Lived

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

Sirius: Boring

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.

Sirius: Bitch

The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

Sirius: Spoilt brat

Professor McGonagall: Mr Black if you could try and restain from compenting on everything we may get through the book today

Regulas: could you call us by our first names as it could refer to both me and my brother?

Professor McGonagall: certainly

The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.

James: Whats wrong with the Potters?

Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister,

Alice: That Bitch, how dare she

Lily: Its fine babe, I am use to it (sighing)

because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish

James: And happy to be!

as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

Lily(fuming): how dare they say that my son will be better than her son

When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.

None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.

At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.

All: Brat

"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.

It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map.

For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs.

Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.

But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.

Sirius: It is normal!

Lily: Did you ever learn in muggle studies?

Sirius: No I took it to piss my parents off

Everyone else rolls their eyes.

Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together.

Remus

Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it.

The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.

Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.

Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.

He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.

He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy.

This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.

"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —"

" — yes, their son, Harry —"

Mr. Dursley stopped dead..

Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.

He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone,

and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.

Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry.

He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.

There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if he'd had a sister like that…

but all the same, those people in cloaks…

He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.

"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!

Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"

And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.

Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.

As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning.

It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.

"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.

The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.

Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.

Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:

"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"

"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."

Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…

."

Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"

As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.

Lily sighed but made not comment. Even though she hadn't been close to her sister for years it still hurt that she had pushed Lily out of her life.

"No," she said sharply. "Why?"

"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"

"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.

"Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd."

Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"

"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.

"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"

"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."

"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."

He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.

Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it.

The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect them…

How very wrong he was.

Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.

A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.

Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.

Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."

He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.

He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.

"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."

He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked.

"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.

"All day? When you could have been celebrating

Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.

"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news."

She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."

"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."

She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"

"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore.

"We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"

"A what?"

"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."

"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone —"

"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."

Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name." "I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."

"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."

"Only because you're too — well —noble to use them."

"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."

Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"

It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.

"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters.

The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are — are — that they're — dead."

Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.

"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"

Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.

Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry.

But he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke — and that's why he's gone."

Dumbledore nodded glumly.

"It's — it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"

"We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."

Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"

"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."

"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"

"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."

"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?

These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future — there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!"

"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"

Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.

" "Hagrid's bringing him."

"You think it —wise — to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"

"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.

"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"

A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.

If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild — long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.

"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"

"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir.".

"No problems, were there?"

"No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."

Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.

"Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."

"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."

Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.

"Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.

"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"

"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —"

"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.

For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.

"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."

"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."

Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.

"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.

Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.

"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.

A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter — the boy who lived!"

**The Boy Who Lived **

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you****'****d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn****'****t hold with such nonsense. **

Sirius: Boring

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. **

Sirius: Bitch

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere. **

Sirius: Spoilt brat

Professor McGonagall: Mr Black if you could try and restain from compenting on everything we may get through the book today

Regulas: could you call us by our first names as it could refer to both me and my brother?

Professor McGonagall: certainly

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn****'****t think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

James: Whats wrong with the Potters?

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley****'****s sister, but they hadn****'****t met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn****'****t have a sister,**

Alice: That Bitch, how dare she

Lily: Its fine babe, I am use to it (sighing)

**because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish**

James: And happy to be!

**as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn****'****t want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

Lily(fuming): how dare they say that; my son will be better than her son

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair. **

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. **

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

All: Brat

"**Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four****'****s drive. **

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar ****—**** a cat reading a map. **

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn****'****t realize what he had seen ****—**** then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn****'****t a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive ****—**** no, looking at the sign; cats couldn****'****t read maps or signs. **

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day. **

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn****'****t help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

Sirius: It is normal!

Lily: Did you ever learn in muggle studies?

Sirius: No I took it to piss my parents off

Everyone else rolls their eyes.

**Mr. Dursley couldn****'****t bear people who dressed in funny clothes ****—**** the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together.**

**Remus: Wonder what has happened to make them lose control**

**Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren****'****t young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt ****—****these people were obviously collecting for something… yes, that would be it. **

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. **

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn****'****t, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn****'****t see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he****'****d stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery. **

**He****'****d forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker****'****s. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn****'****t know why, but they made him uneasy. **

**This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn****'****t see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. **

"**The Potters, that'****s right, that****'****s what I heard ****—" **

" — **yes, their son, Harry ****—" **

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead..**

Teddy: yay he's dead

Tonks: Teddy don't be so rude even if the person deserves it, you are better than that

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. **

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone,**

**and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid.**

**Potter wasn****'****t such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn****'****t even sure his nephew was called Harry. **

**He****'****d never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

All: Wrong

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn****'****t blame her ****—**** if he****'****d had a sister like that… **

Lily: she is only jealous

**but all the same, those people in cloaks… **

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o****'****clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door. **

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn'****t seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don****'****t be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! **

**Everyone looked shock yet happy other than the poeople from the future and harry looked down right depressed something could see.**

Lily: we die don't we, me and James?

Harry: I can't answer that yet we aint allowed to answer questions til the end of the books

Lily: Ok sweetie

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" **

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn****'****t approve of imagination. **

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw****—****and it didn****'****t improve his mood ****—**** was the tabby cat he****'****d spotted that morning. **

**It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. **

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn****'****t move. It just gave him a stern look. **

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. **

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door****'****s problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won****'****t!"). Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: **

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation'****s owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?" **

"**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don'****t know about that, but it****'****s not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they****'****ve had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early ****—**** it****'****s not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight." **

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

**."**

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He****'****d have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er ****—**** Petunia, dear ****—**** you haven****'****t heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn****'****t have a sister. **

Lily: Love you too Tuney

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?" **

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…" **

"**So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley. **

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd." **

Moody: HER CROWD!

Lily: you get use to it

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he****'****d heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn****'****t dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son ****—**** he****'****d be about Dudley****'****s age now, wouldn****'****t he?" **

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly. **

"**What'****s his name again? Howard, isn****'****t it?" **

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

James: and Dudley is sooo much better

"**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." **

**He didn****'****t say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something. **

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of ****—**** well, he didn****'****t think he could bear it. **

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn****'****t see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on ****—**** he yawned and turned over ****—**** it couldn****'****t affect them… **

**How very wrong he was. **

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn****'****t so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you****'****d have thought he****'****d just popped out of the ground. The cat****'****s tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. **

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man****'****s name was Albus Dumbledore. **

**Albus Dumbledore didn****'****t seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known." **

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. **

James&Sirius: cool I want one!

**He clicked it again ****—**** the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn****'****t be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn****'****t look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it. **

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." **

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

"**My dear Professor, I****'****ve never seen a cat sit so stiffly." **

"**You'****d be stiff if you****'****d been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall. **

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. **

"**Oh yes, everyone'****s celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You****'****d think they****'****d be a bit more careful, but no ****—**** even the Muggles have noticed something****'****s going on. It was on their news." **

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys****'**** dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they****'****re not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent ****—**** I****'****ll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense." **

Dedalus: oi

"**You can****'****t blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We****'****ve had precious little to celebrate for eleven years." **

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that****'****s no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors." **

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn****'****t, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?" **

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. **

"**We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

"**A what?" **

"**A lemon drop. They'****re a kind of Muggle sweet I****'****m rather fond of." **

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn'****t think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone ****—" **

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this '****You-Know-Who****'**** nonsense ****—**** for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."**

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying ****'****You-Know-Who.****'**** I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort****'****s name." "I know you haven****'****t," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you****'****re different. Everyone knows you****'****re the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of." **

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have." **

"**Only because you'****re too ****—**** well ****—****noble to use them." **

"**It'****s lucky it****'****s dark. I haven****'****t blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." **

**Nearly everyone: TMI**

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they****'****re saying? About why he****'****s disappeared? About what finally stopped him?" **

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. **

"**What they'****re saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric****'****s Hollow. He went to find the Potters. **

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are ****—**** are ****—**** that they****'****re ****—**** dead." **

Sirius: No, No, No my best friend cannot die, he can't please tell me the books wrong, please

Surprisingly Lily went ver and gave him a hug whispering 'If its for a better world I am willing to die, destroying evil and doing the right thing is more important'

Harry: Anyway we are chaging the the future so no one here will die won't die

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **

"**Lily and James… I can'****t believe it… I didn****'****t want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily. **

**Professor McGonagall****'****s voice trembled as she went on. "That****'****s not all. They****'****re saying he tried to kill the Potter****'****s son, Harry. **

**But he couldn****'****t. He couldn****'****t kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they****'****re saying that when he couldn****'****t kill Harry Potter, Voldemort****'****s power somehow broke ****—**** and that****'****s why he****'****s gone." **

**Dumbledore nodded glumly. **

Everyone who didn't know looked at Harry in shock

"**It'****s ****—**** it****'****s true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he****'****s done… all the people he****'****s killed… he couldn****'****t kill a little boy? It****'****s just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know." **

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid****'****s late. I suppose it was he who told you I****'****d be here, by the way?" **

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don'****t suppose you****'****re going to tell me why you****'****re here, of all places?" **

"**I'****ve come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They****'****re the only family he has left now." **

Lily: you had better have a good reason or you are sooo dead

"**You don'****t mean ****–**** you can****'****t mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore ****—**** you can****'****t. I****'****ve been watching them all day. You couldn****'****t find two people who are less like us. And they****'****ve got this son ****—**** I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **

"**It'****s the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he****'****s older. I****'****ve written them a letter." **

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

**These people will never understand him! He****'****ll be famous ****—**** a legend ****—**** I wouldn****'****t be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future ****—**** there will be books written about Harry ****—**** every child in our world will know his name!" **

"**Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy'****s head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won****'****t even remember! Can you see how much better off he****'****ll be, growing up away from all that until he****'****s ready to take it?" **

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes ****—**** yes, you****'****re right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it. **

" "**Hagrid'****s bringing him." **

"**You think it —****wise ****—**** to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. **

"**I'****m not saying his heart isn****'****t in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can****'****t pretend he****'****s not careless. He does tend to ****—**** what was that?" **

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky ****—**** and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. **

Sirius: I want one

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild ****—**** long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?" **

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black len****t it to me. I****'****ve got him, sir.".**

Sirius: yes, yes, yes, me cool, me cool

Everyone just laughed at him

"**No problems, were there?" **

"**No, sir —**** house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin****'**** around. He fell asleep as we was flyin****'**** over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"**Is that where —****?" whispered Professor McGonagall. **

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'****ll have that scar forever." **

"**Couldn'****t you do something about it, Dumbledore?" **

"**Even if I could, I wouldn'****t. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well ****—**** give him here, Hagrid ****—**** we****'****d better get this over with." **

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys****'**** house. **

"**Could I —**** could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You****'****ll wake the Muggles!" **

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can'****t stand it ****—****Lily an****'**** James dead ****—**** an****'**** poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles ****—" **

"**Yes, yes, it'****s all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we****'****ll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry****'****s blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid****'****s shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore****'****s eyes seemed to have gone out. **

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that'****s that. We****'****ve no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations." **

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'****night, Professor McGonagall ****—**** Professor Dumbledore, sir." **

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night. **

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. **

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. **

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. **

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours****'**** time by Mrs. Dursley****'****s scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley… He couldn****'****t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter ****—**** the boy who lived!"**

Remus: So you are called the boy who lived?

Harry: with other names too, but yeah that name unfortunatly

Lily: can I read next?

Harry: Sure


	3. Chapter 3 The Vanishing Glass

"**The Vanishing Glass," Lily read.**

Sirius: oh oh oh sounds fun

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. **

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. **

"**Up! Get up! Now!" **

James: What a nice wake up call

Lily: It isnt nice.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. **

"**Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

Remus: coz it aint a dream

Moony: you relies your talking to the book

Remus: shut up Moony

**His aunt was back outside the door. **

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded. **

"**Nearly," said Harry. **

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." **

**Harry groaned. **

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. **

Regulas: not allowed to groan now, she sounds such a lovely woman

Sirius, Lucius, Draco, Narcissa: she is the worst type ofhuman

"**Nothing, nothing…" **

**Dudley's birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider**

**off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept. **

Lily: WHAT! SHE HAS MY SON SLEEPING IN A CUPBOARD!!!!

James casts a spell at the wall and blasts a big hole in it

Everyone from the future except Harry: why didn't you tell us?

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry**

Lily and James: he better not touch you Harry

**, but he couldn't often catch him. **

Lily and James: good

**Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. **

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,**

Everyone but Harry and James: like his father

**and bright green eyes.**

Everyone but Harry and lily: like his mothers

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. **

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. **

"**In the car crash when your parents died**

Lily and James: We DID NOT

**," she had said.**

"**And don't ask questions." **

Remus, Moony, Moody, McGonagall: how will he learn?

**Don't ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. **

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

James: Won't work

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place. **

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel**

James: sounds like a pig in a wig; Harry laughed

— **Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. **

Everyone: weird

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. **

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year." **

Everyone: Spoilt Brat

"**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy." **

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. **

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" **

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…" **

Teddy: I can count better than that

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then." **

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. **

"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair. **

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. **

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. **

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction. **

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. **

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. **

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. **

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**Lily and James: HE HAS A NAME!!!!**

**Sirius: IT'S HARRY H-A-R-R-Y, say it with me**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there — or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. **

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

Lily: she is still friends with her?

"**On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia. **

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

Teddy: yeah right, that would be fun for you Uncle Harry.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. **

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled. **

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

Future People: just people

Harry looks at them.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave him in the car…" **

"**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…" **

Lily: he aint a dog

Sirius: what is wrong with dogs?

Lily: I am just saying my son isn't a dog

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted. **

"**Dinky Duddydums, **

Everyone laughed at the riddkulas nickname

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him. **

"**I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. **

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. **

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. **

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

Lily and James: Don't touch my son!

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." **

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…" **

Everyone: we believe you Harry

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen. **

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

Lily: Bitch

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

"The one good thing about our hair," James grinned towards his son, and Harry grinned back.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly. **

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). **

"That's horrible, whatever you do to that would be worth the punishment," Sirius said, causing everyone to laugh, although a little bitterness was still in the air.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. **

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished. **

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. **

Everyone looks at Harry shocked

Tonks: You apparted before Hogwarts?

Harry: think so

Sirius: WOW

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. **

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"… **roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them. **

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." **

Padfoot: Bad move Pup

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" **

**Dudley and Piers sniggered. **

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." **

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas. **

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. **

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond. **

Everyone laughs

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. **

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. **

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. **

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. **

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. **

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. **

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. **

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. **

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. **

**It winked.**

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. **

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: **

"**I get that all the time." **

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." **

**The snake nodded vigorously. **

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. **

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. **

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil. **

"**Was it nice there?" **

James: Are you a parselmouth?

Harry: Yeah

James: Cool

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" **

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. **

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. **

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. **

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

Everyone laughing

Dumbledore: That's strong magic Harry

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. **

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo." **

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. **

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" **

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?".**

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals,"**

Lily: WHAT, wait till I see her next

**before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. **

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. **

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. **

Dumbledore: You survived the killing curse?

Harry Yeah

Everyone from past looks at Harry shocked

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. **

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. **

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; **

**the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. **

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look. **

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

**Padfoot: That chapters over can I read next?**

**Harry: Sure**


	4. Chapter 4 The Letters From No One

Sorry I left it so long after updating last time, i have been in a mental hospital for self harming and being suicidal, but better now and leaving hospital soon =D

LCP x

Padfoot: "**Letters From No One,"** but don't letters have to come from someone?

McGonagall: It means they don't know who is sending letters.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started**

Lily: My _Lovely_ sister is dead meat

Everyone looks scared, when Lily had a temper it was best to stay away

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches. **

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. **

"That's just smart of them," Frank said.

"Really, I thought it was a stupid idea," Teddy said receiving odd looks from everyone.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting. **

Lily casts a spell that completely destroys an empty chair.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny. **

"I couldn't have cared less where I went, as long I was away from that wanker," Harry said. "I thought that I might have a chance to make some friends, and I would be able to stop having to fail all my classes on purpose."

"Why did you fail on purpose?" Lily asked, though she had her suspicions.

"I couldn't do better then Dudley, and he's not a very smart bloke," Harry said confirming Lily's theory.

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?" **

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said. **

"Brilliant one mate," Sirius and Padfoot together as everyone laughed. "It looks like you've got your fathers insulting abilities."

"I don't know Padfoot," Remus said. "Lily can be quite cheeky when she wants to be."

"That true, I guess we'll have to wait to pass judgment on that," Sirius admitted.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. **

"So I guess you didn't get out of that one after all, did you Harry?" Fabian teased.

**Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years. **

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life. **

"How the fuck would that help?" Sirius said.

"If you swear one more time Sirius, so help you'll regret it," Lily said.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. **

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water. **

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question. **

"**Your new school uniform," she said. **

**Harry looked in the bowl again. **

"**Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"Sarcasm never worked on her," Lily said.

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished." **

"Okay.....," Lily said slowly rolling her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder if she really is thick or just likes to act an idiot on purpose."

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. **

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably. **

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table. **

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat. **

"**Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. **

"**Make Harry get it." **

"**Get the mail, Harry." **

"**Make Dudley get it." **

"**Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley." **

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — **_**a letter for Harry**_**. **

"Hogwarts' letter perchance," Sirius and Padfoot said and everyone rolled their eyes at him.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake: **

_**Mr. H. Potter **_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs 4 Privet Drive **_

_**Little Whinging **_

_**Surrey**_

Lily pressed her lips together at the mention of the cupboard, she couldn't believe that her son had to endure almost ten years on living in a dark dank place like that. She was lucky that he was able to turn out so well. Her sister will pay for it

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. **

**There was no stamp. **

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter **_**H**_**. **

"Yes, Hogwarts!" Sirius and Padfoot shouted.

"**Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke. **

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. **

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard. **

"**Marge's**

**ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk…" **

"**Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!" **

"Shut up," Remus hissed.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter,**

"No Harry, you should have open that somewhere private," Tonks said.

"I know that now," Harry said. "I didn't realize that they would care if I got a letter."

**which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon. **

"**That's **_**mine**_**!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back. **

"**Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge. **

"**P-P-Petunia!" he gasped. **

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise. **

"**Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!"**

"They don't seem too pleased about the letter," Alice chuckled.

"No, it only made me want to read it more," Harry said.

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick. **

"**I want to read that letter," he said loudly. **

"And what, anything tell, entitles you to read that letter?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing, but he gets everything else he wants, so why not this?" Harry said bitterly.

"_**I **_**want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's **_**mine**_**." **

"**Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope. **

**Harry didn't move. **

"**I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted.**

"See, his mum's temper," Neville said grinning. Harry grinned back at his friend, even as he felt indignant at being compared to his mum.

Even a year ago Neville wouldn't have felt comfortable enough to say that to Harry, not to mention with all these other people in the room.

"**Let **_**me **_**see it!" demanded Dudley. **

"**OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry,**

"Oh, come on Harry you can beat him," Sirius said.

"I'd like to see you take on someone that's more than three times your weight," Harry said. "I'm lucking he never decided to sit on me, instead of punching me."

**his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor. **

"**Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?" **

"**Watching — spying — might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

"Like we would care about you," Moody said.

"No but we do care about Harry, besides at least Dumbledore has someone keeping some kind of eye on him," Alice said.

"And that don't mean we care about them, we care about Harry.

"**But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want —" **

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. **

"**No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer… Yes, that's best… we won't do anything…" **

"That's not going to work," McGonagall said.

"It might, if he doesn't respond…" Lily said worriedly.

"Don't worry, we know that he gets to Hogwarts," Moody said confidently.

"Besides, there no way that they would let Harry Potter not come to Hogwarts," Draco said.

"Hey, Draco," Harry said suddenly curious, he really had no idea just how famous he was. "Was I really that big."

"Yeah Harry," Draco said laughing. "Like Dumbledore said before, everyone heard your story. You sort of became the person that parents pointed to as a role model. I can't remember how many times my mum brought you up when she was reprimanding me. 'Harry Potter would never do that' or 'if you keep on working hard, you'll be like Harry Potter'. Now that I know you, I know it's not really something I should aim for, you're bloody crazy."

"Like you're sane," Harry said laughing with his friend. "You did some pretty crazy things yourself."

"Yeah, like attack you," Draco laughed.

"That would be it," Harry chuckled.

The parents of the two boys just looked at their sons not really understanding what was going on, but at least getting the idea that they where indeed good friends now.

"**But —" **

"**I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard. **

"**Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?" **

"**No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. **

"**I have burned it." **

"Why you piece of Crap," Lily said.

"**It was **_**not **_**a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it." **

"**SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. **

**He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful. **

"**Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking… you're really getting a bit big for it… we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom. **

"What?" Lily said beside herself now as she turned to Harry. "You had to sleep in a cupboard and they… that … he had two bedrooms."

"Yes," Harry said truly afraid of his mother for the first time, he could sense the energy that was emanating for her.

"There's also a guess room," he said in a low voice.

Lily eyes bugged and she got up and went somewhere were no one could see her, so she could rage in peace.

"Why did you tell her the last bit?" James said watching his girlfriend with concern.

"I figured she would find out eventually, might as well tell her now," Harry said, he too was concerned.

"**Why?" said Harry. **

"Why are you questioning it?" James as.

"He was doing something nice for me," Harry said. "It didn't feel right."

"Hmph," James said, he too looked like he wanted to get things off his chest.

"**Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now." **

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: **

"Four rooms" James repeated slowly before heading for a corner to take his anger out on the boxes there.

**One for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched. **

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, "I don't **_**want **_**him in there… I **_**need **_**that room… make him get out…"**

"It was the first time ever that he didn't get what he wanted," Harry stated.

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it. **

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly. **

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. **

"I really wish he hadn't," Harry said gloomily, then he remembered his encounter with Hagrid and thought that maybe things worked out for the best.

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand. **

"**Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley — go — just go." **

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan. **

"I don't like the sound of that," Lily said re-entering the room. "It sounds like something your father would do."

"Well, what was I suppose to do?" Harry asked. "Just sit there and take it."

"No, I suppose I wouldn't want you to do that," she smiled at him.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights. **

"Not a bad plan," Sirius said.

"I'm glad it got the marauder's seal of approval," Harry said.

"No plan should be carried out without it," Sirius said in his most serious voice.

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door — **

"**AAAAARRRGH!" **

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something **_**alive**_**! **

"Oh drat, the tosser thought of it too," Sirius said. "At least you got to step on him."

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink. **

"**I want —" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. **

**Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. **

**He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot. **

"**See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't **_**deliver **_**them they'll just give up." **

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon." **

"**Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him. **

"And that's something we are all proud of," Gideon said.

Padfoot just pouted for a minute until Moony said, "For Merlin sakes, carry on reading and stop pouting... just because Gideon said what you wanted to."

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom. **

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises. **

"You know, things are a lot funnier now," Harry said laughing at his uncle's crazy antics.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two-dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. **

"**Who on earth wants to talk to **_**you **_**this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"A lot of people actually," Neville said, then he blushed.

"What is it?" Alice asked, noticing her son discomfort.

"Oh, it just… Well I remembered writing to Harry Potter once…" Neville said in barely over a whisper.

"Really?" Harry said shocked.

"I guess you never got it," Neville said.

"No, I guess the Ministry or Dumbledore must have stop my fan mail," Harry said then suddenly smiled. He would have to remember to ask Ginny if she had ever written to him as a kid.

"I wonder what happen to it?" Neville asked.

"Who knows," Harry shrugged.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. **

"**No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today —" **

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one — **

"Why didn't you just pick one off the floor?" Lucius asked.

Harry blushed, he never thought of that.

"Lucius, be nice," Narcissa said.

"Sorry."

"**Out! OUT!" **

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. **

"**That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" **

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag. **

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. **

"**Shake 'em off… shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"I don't believe it, but he has gone even more mental then he was before," Snape said, receiving laughs from everyone.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer. **

"Welcome to my life, Big D," Harry said.

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering… **

"What did you think about?" Lily asked her son.

"I'm not sure really, probably along the lines of who was writing me, and if someone was going to take me away from the dreary life I lead," Harry said.

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. **

"'**Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." **

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address: **

_**Mr. H. Potter **_

_**Room 17 **_

_**Railview Hotel **_

_**Cokeworth **_

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared. **

"**I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room. **

"**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her.**

"She must have realized it was pointless to run," Teddy said.

"He should listen to her, she at least knows a little about our world, no matter how much she tries to forget it," Lily said sadly.

**Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage. **

"**Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. **

"Wow, he's so far gone even his son realizes it," Fabian said.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. **

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled. **

"**It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a **_**television**_**." **

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it **_**was **_**Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. **

"Really, happy birthday!" Lily said looking at her son, who just blushed.

"Lily it's his birthday in the book, not in really life," James said exasperated. "Even I know that."

"No, its his birthday today, a mother knows," she said, she notice her son hadn't said anything and was sure she was right. "I bet you two Galleons it is."

"Lily, you don't believe in betting," Sirius said. "All those times you broke up our p…"

"That was at school Sirius, it was against the rules," she said. Harry grinned at her, that was the mum he expected to meet, the one just like Mione.

"Oh, come on Lils," Jamess said.

"Are you afraid?" Lily goaded him.

"Fine, your on," James said and they both turned to Harry.

"She right," Harry grinned. "It's my 23rd birthday."

"Damn," James said.

"I knew it," Lily squealed then hugged her son. "Happy birthday Harry."

"Yeah, Happy birthday," James said bitterly handing Lily her winning. "You could have said something before I bet though."

"Where's the fun in that?" Harry said. "Oh, yeah, and it was Neville's birthday yesterday."

"Really," Alice said turning on her own son and hugging him. It was the first time she did it, and it made Neville feel more at peace. All those times visiting his parents at he hospitable and this is all he really wanted from them.

"I say we take a break and celebrate," Sirius said.

"Cool," James said and everyone seemed to be in agreement. After five minutes of congratulation and small talk, a cake appeared in the room.

"Where did that come from?" Remus question.

"This room must be like the Room of Requirements, Moony, it gives us what we want," Sirius said.

"No, that can't be, the Room of Requirements doesn't give food," Neville said, remembering all too clearly the time he spent in that room, the first few days of without being able to get food.

"Does it really matter, it's here and it looks delicious?" Sirius said mouth watering.

"I think this place is beyond time, or something, I remember Mione saying something about it. To sum up the rooms gives us the things we need until we have done what we came here to do." Harry said scathing the back of his head.

"Like I said, whatever, lets eat."

They all sang happy birthday to Harry and Neville and proceeded to eat the cake, and all the other food that appeared moments later. It took about an hour for the group to settle down again and read.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. **

"That's horrible, you never had a gift before," Lily asked.

"Not yet," Harry said, thinking about when Hagrid had given him Hedwig.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day. **

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. **

"It's not good if he's smiling," Frank stated.

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought. **

"**Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!" **

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there. **

"**Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" **

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them. **

"**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" **

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. **

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. **

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. **

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up. **

"Those aren't rations," Lily huffed.

"**Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Oh just you wait," Lily said muttering under her breath.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. **

**Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all. **

"You're kind of a pessimist, Harry," Remus said.

"You would be too, if you lived my life," Harry said. "Nothing good every really happened to me, well not until this at least."

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket. **

"stupid Bitch of a sister." Lily muttered under her breath

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now. **

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. **

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow. **

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea? **

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds… twenty… ten… nine — maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him **

— **three… two… one… **

**BOOM. **

Sirius shouted with excitement, and Harry was glad he didn't volunteer for the next chapter.

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"I wonder who that could be," Sirius said. "That's it for the chapter."

"I'll read next," Alice said.

BANG!

The room erupted with the noise as four new people entered the room.


	5. Chapter 5 The Keepers of the Keys

There stood the three Dursleys and Bellatrix Black. Harry leapt forward wand pointed at Bellatrix before asking all of them what was the date.

"16th December 1975" Bellatrix answered watching Harry's wand carefully.

"16th December 1997" Vernon Dursleys answered looking at Harry's wand in disgust.

"Bellatrix who's side of the war are you on?" Harry asked, fearing the worse.

"Any side at the moment, don't know who to support, You-Know-Who seems to have a good idea, but then i would be following my family's wishes and i am not sure i want to, my cousin Sirius has the right idea in my opinion, but my family aren't to know that." Bellatrix answered still watching Harry's wand.

"You are meant to be here to reads the books with us." Harry replied lowering his wand and inviting her to sit down with the rest, "This is Bellatrix Black, you heard what she said, she isn't to be judge by her future choices, we are changing the future for the better, we are not to judge anyone who shows change. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, Bellatrix we are reading 7 books about my life starting from my 11th birthday till my 7th year at Hogwarts they seem to tell all y thoughts and what was happening to me at the time, it seems to hold the mystery until we discovered it so you will have to be patient. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, you need to get over your fear of magic, as everyone in this room other than you are either a witch or wizard so any offensive language will more than likely resort in you being curse, please come and sit down so we can read, and everyone as much as you hate the Dursleys for what they have done including the cupboard, I would rather have them not hurt please, shout, scream whatever but don't hurt anyone in this room. Can we continue please Alice?"

"**The Keeper of the Keys,"** Alice read clearly.

"Yay that's me" Hagrid told all the kids

A.N I apologise if my spelling and Hagrid's accent are not correct

**BOOM. **

**They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. **

"**Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly. **

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them. **

"He brought a gun!" Lily exclaimed.

"I won't it work against Hagrid," James said. "His skin is too thick."

"Go me, Go me Go me!" Hagrid sang

A.N. they will be a bit OCC.

"**Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!" **

**There was a pause. Then — **

**SMASH! **

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor. **

**A giant of a man **

"He's not a giant Harry," Remus said.

"Not a full one at least," James said.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I know he's not a full giant, he would be twice as big, but I'm sure that he is at least half-giant," Lily said in a tone that really reminded Harry of his best friend; which indeed caused both Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny and Neville to laugh (though they did it silently so no one noticed).

"Oh come on, you really think he's a half-giant?" Sirius asked.

"Yes I do," Lily said.

"I bet you three Galleons he's not," Sirius said.

"Sure, it's your money," she said. "So are you Hagrid?" she turned to her son.

"Maybe," was all that Hagrid answered, Harry buts in by coughing

"You know?"

"Yes, you will find out later" Harry answered

**was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. **

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all. **

"**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…"**

"Typical Hagrid," James said smiling warmly. Hagrid smiled happily.

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear. **

"**Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger. **

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon. **

"**An' here's Harry!" said the giant. **

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile. **

"He's really nice Harry, you don't have to be afraid," Lily said.

"I know that mum," Harry said. "Hagrid is brilliant."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "Though he was frightening to meet at first."

"**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. **

"That was the first time I hear that," Harry smiled.

"Do you hear it often?" James asked.

"What do you think?" Harry said.

"Well since it's what I thought about you at first, I think you do," Remus said.

"**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!" **

"**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; **

**he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room. **

"Well that take cares of that," Molly smiled. "I didn't like him having a gun."

"Same" Lily added

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on. **

"**Anyway — Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here — I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." **

"Ah, that nice," Lily cooed. "Though you might not want to eat it."

"What is that meant to mean?" Hagrid asked

"Nothing Hagrid" Lily answered

"Actually it wasn't that bad," Harry said to the astonishment of everyone, since they all had experience with Hagrid cooking. "I know, it must have been a first... and last."

"Maybe he didn't cook it," Remus said.

"Yeah it doesn't say, he probably had a house elf make it," Sirius said.

"Oi"

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with **_**Happy Birthday Harry **_**written on it in green icing. **

"Why did he pick green?" Sirius asked.

"Maybe to match my eyes," Harry guessed.

"Huh, maybe," Sirius shrugged.

"And Slytherins aren't that bad" Ron told him

"But...."

"There are good and bad people in every house, and by targeting the Slytherins then we are making them turn to Moldevort" Harry told them giving Peter evils, but only Dumbledore noticed and started putting pieces into place.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

"Harry James Potter, use your manners," Lily shouted towards her son.

"Mum…"

"James?" James said in a questioning tone.

"It just felt right," Lily said now blushing. "You don't mind."

"Of course not, I kind of like it," James smiled.

"Good, because it is my name," Harry smiled.

"Where did you learn manners?" Lily said remembering what she was talking about before James interrupted her.

"I honestly don't know, I don't think the Dursleys taught me," Harry said hoping this would work, and his mum would lay off him.

"I'm surprise he has any manners at all," Remus said.

"I guess," Lily said.

"We taught our Dudders manners, we also made sure the Boy had good manners too, a thump if he forgot."

Everyone gives the Dursleys evils.

**The giant chuckled. **

"**True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." **

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. **

"**What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." **

"You will not drink in front of my son, Hagrid," Lily said.

"Sorry" Hagrid said not wanting to upset Lily

"Well, he does take a swig of something, but its not much," Harry said.

"Hmph," Lily said crossing her arm.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath. **

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. **

"How big are his pockets?" Frank asked.

"Big enough for all that and much more," The Future kids smiled.

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley." **

"Like Hagrid would give him anything," Sirius said.

**The giant chuckled darkly. **

"**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." **

"See, he has some more manner there," Alice said to Lily.

"Yeah," Lily smiled.

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. **

"**Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts — yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course. **

"No he doesn't, because his so called relative never told him," Remus said really upset.

"Of course we won't tell him about that Freaky place."

BANG, curses from every magic person apart from Harry and Teddy went hitting Uncle Vernon, changing his features a lot. He had bright green ears the size of an elephant, purple hair as long as Rapunsal(sp?), a orange nose as long as Pinochoes(sp?), pink cat eyes, blue plump lips, and yellow body fatter than normal, black small feet, red hands, and warts everywhere all silver and shiny. Aunt Petunia screamed and Dudley tried not to laugh.

"Back to reading." Harry said laughing to himself.

"**Er — no," said Harry. **

**Hagrid looked shocked. **

"**Sorry," Harry said quickly. **

"Don't apologize Harry, it's not your fault," Sirius said, really mad too. "Man I really wish that I raised you."

"That's kind of a scary thought," Remus said.

"But not as bad as the truth," Frank said and everyone had to agree with that.

"_**Sorry**_**?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?" **

"**All what?" asked Harry. **

"Hagrid's not going to like that," James grinned.

"**ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. **

"Hey, why didn't you yell," Sirius asked Alice.

"Sorry, it's not my style," Alice said.

"Come on it's fun," Sirius pouted

"No," Alice said.

"Then could I read," Sirius offered.

"No, you had your turn," Alice said smiling at him.

"Hmph," Sirius huffed.

"**Now wait jus' one second!" **

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall. **

"**Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy — this boy! — knows nothin' abou' — about ANYTHING?"**

"I didn't really like that, it made be sound like an idiot," Harry said.

"He just meant about our world," Lily said kindly.

"I know, but he didn't say right, I mean I did know some things," Harry said.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. **

"**I know **_**some **_**things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." **

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About **_**our **_**world, I mean. **_**Your **_**world. **_**My **_**world. **_**Yer parents' world**_**." **

"**What world?" **

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode. **

"**DURSLEY!" he boomed. **

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry. "But yeh must know about yer mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're **_**famous**_**. You're **_**famous**_**."**

"No, he has no idea about us," James said harshly.

"Hey, Prongs mate, your famous," Sirius said noticing his friend's dark mood. "Isn't that what we've been working for all along?"

"Yeah," James smiled.

"**What? My — my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?" **

"**Yeh don' know… yeh don' know…" Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. **

"**Yeh don' know what yeh **_**are**_**?" he said finally. **

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice. **

"**Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage. **

"**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?" **

"**Kept **_**what **_**from me?" said Harry eagerly. **

"**STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. **

"Tell him already Hagrid, the suspense is killing me" Sirius said impatiently.

"Sirius, you know what he going to say," Remus smirked at his friend.

"So, I want to see what Harry reaction is going to be," Sirius smiled.

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror. **

"**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry — yer a wizard." **

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. **

"**I'm a **_**what**_**?" gasped Harry. **

Everyone laughed. "Good reaction Harry."

"Thanks, Padfoot," Harry said rolling his eyes.

"**A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter." **

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to **_**Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. **_**He pulled out the letter and read: **

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY **_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE **_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) **_

_**Dear Mr. Potter, **_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. **_

_**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. **_

_**Yours sincerely, **_

_**Minerva McGonagall, **_

_**Deputy Headmistress **_

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?" **

"That's your first question?" Sirius said.

"What, it was the last thing I read," Harry said defensively.

"But there so much more… interesting things you could have ask," Sirius said.

"Leave the poor boy alone, Sirius," Alice said.

"**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl — a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl**

"Poor owl," Alice and Lily said.

— **a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down: **

_**Dear Professor Dumbledore, **_

_**Given Harry his letter. **_

_**Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. **_

_**Weather's horrible. Hope you're well. **_

_**Hagrid **_

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone. **

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly. **

"**Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight. **

"**He's not going," he said. **

**Hagrid grunted. **

"**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said. **

"**A what?" said Harry, interested. **

"**A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on." **

"**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard indeed!" **

"**You **_**knew**_**?" said Harry. "You **_**knew **_**I'm a — a wizard?" **

"Of course they knew," Lily said bitterly. "How could you do this Petunia?"

"I am not that bad" Petunia answered.

"Wanna bet." James muttered

"**Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. "**_**Knew**_**! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? **

"Lily's not dratted you horse," James said.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that — that **_**school **_**— and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. **

"Did you really do that?" Sirius said.

"Yeah, once," Lily said.

"But what about the underage…" Sirius asked.

"It was to show my parents that I was really learning something," Lily said.

"That's so not fair," Sirius pouted.

**I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak! **

"I hate it when she calls me that," Lily said in a small voice, she really did miss the sister she had before she learned she was a witch.

James, who was about to yell in defense of his girlfriend again, just put his arm around her and pulled her into his chest.

"I hate it too," Harry said looking down. Lily shift out of James' grip and hugged her son.

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!" **

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years. **

"**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as — as —**_**abnormal **_— **and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!" **

"I can't believe she told you like that," Alice said.

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!" **

"**CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!" **

"So Nev, did I live up to my name," Harry asked his friend.

"I guess," Neville said. "You are pretty cool and mysterious."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Everyone was always talking about you, and spreading all of these weird rumors," Neville smiled.

"**But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently. **

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious. **

"**I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh — but someone's gotta — yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." **

"I wonder what would have happen if I went without knowing," Harry mused.

"You would have been terrified at all the people staring at you," Neville said.

"I was still terrified," Harry chuckled.

"Well then you would look like an idiot, not even knowing your own past," Sirius said.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. **

"**Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh — mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it…" **

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with — with a person called — but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows —" **

"**Who?" **

"**Well — I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does." **

"**Why not?" **

"So innocent," Sirius cooed at Harry.

"Hey," Harry pouted.

"And he appears to stay that way," James said teasing his son.

"Hey," Harry repeated.

"**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went… bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was…" **

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out. **

"**Could you write it down?" Harry suggested. **

"**Nah — can't spell it. All right —**_**Voldemort**_**. " **

"Wow, you actually got him to say it," James said in surprise.

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this — this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too — some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches… terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. **

"**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before… probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. **

"As if we would ever join him," James said.

"Never," Lily added heatedly.

"**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em… maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' — an' —" **

Everyone was now very white, James was holding his girlfriend, Sirius was looking at the two with an expression of pure pain; he couldn't lose his brother. Remus was likewise looking like he was in pain; two of his friends, people who he loved were going to die in less then four years.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. **

"**Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad — knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find — anywa… **

"**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then — an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing — he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. **

"Why though?" Lily asked. "How did you survive?" Harry just smiled at her.

"See, it's really annoying, isn't it Lils?" Sirius said.

"Yes," Lily huffed.

**Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh — took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even — but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. **

**No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts **

"Oh dear Merlin, I hope that doesn't mean that he killed them all," Alice asked.

"No, there is a Bones in our year," Neville said. "But yes it does mean Marlene, Gran said you were friends."

"No," Alice said tearing up.

"Its okay, love," Frank said putting his arms around her.

"Does it mean Fabian or Gideon?" Sirius asked, the older boys were pranksters themselves and had taught the marauders some things in the past.

"Both," Harry said sadly, he had just recently found out that they were Mrs. Weasley's, no Molly's (she had asked him to call her that) brothers.

"That sucks, they were cool. At least their older sister is okay right?" Remus said.

"She marry Arthur Weasley if I'm not mistaken and had a couple of kids. She is okay right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Harry said trying not to smile (not that it was that hard with the depressing topic).

"Good," Sirius said. "She is the best cook I know, it would have been a shame if she was gone."

"Sirius," Lily said hitting him in the arm.

"What, oh yeah you're a good cook too," Sirius said rubbing his arm.

It really was good to have a clown sometimes, Harry mused, it sure does lighten the mood. Then he remembered Fred, it was something that he would have done, try to distract people from their grief, and it made him sad.

"I think I should continue now," Alice said in a thick voice.

— **an' you was only a baby, an' you lived." **

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before — and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. **

"Emf," Sirius said as everyone else shivered.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly. **

"**Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot…." **

"**Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched. **

"**Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you,**

**probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured **

"He didn't touch you did he," Lily said, if her son was beaten physically along with all the mental abuse he had been put through, she didn't know what she would do, but it wouldn't have been pretty.

"No," Harry said.

"Well, that's good at least," James said, though there was no happiness in his voice.

— **and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdoes, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion **

"No it's not!" both Remus and Sirius shouted at the same time.

"Thanks guys, it nice to know you care," James smiled sadly at his friends.

— **asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types — just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -" **

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. **

"That would be his broken wand," James said. "Did you ever find out why he was expelled?"

"Maybe," Harry said bemused.

**Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley — I'm warning you — one more word…" **

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent. **

"**That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. **

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. **

"**But what happened to Vol-, sorry — I mean, You-Know-Who?" **

"No Harry you should say his name," Lily said. "There's no point in being afraid of a name."

"Don't worry mum, I have no problem saying Voldemort," Harry said.

"Good," Lily smiled.

"**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see… he was gettin' more an' more powerful — why'd he go? **

"**Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. **

"He's not dead," Alice said turning white. "But I thought…"

"You'll see," Harry said grimacing

**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back. **

"**Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on — **_**I **_**dunno what it was, no one does **— **but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

"So you're famous for defeating Voldemort, but he's not really gone," Bellatrix mused.

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. **

**A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football? **

"That would be funny, but unfortunately it's not how it works," Sirius laughed.

"Too bad," Harry said.

"**Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard." **

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled. **

"**Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?" **

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it… every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry… chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach… dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back… and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him? **

"You didn't really set the boa constrictor on him," James said. "You just freed him."

"I know," Harry said. "I guess I could have really though."

"It doesn't sound like something you would do," James said.

"No, but it would have been funny seeing how scared Dudley would have gotten," Harry laughed.

"Oi"

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him. **

"**See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard — you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"He wasn't lying there," Harry huffed. "Wish I wasn't though."

"Why?" both James and Sirius said, they always like their fame.

"I don't fancy being famous for something that I don't remember," Harry said exasperated

"I guess," Sirius said, but still looked like he would like the fame.

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight. **

"**Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish — spell books and wands and —" **

"**If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. **

**He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled—" **

"**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon. **

"He shouldn't have said that," Sirius said amused.

"Why?" Frank asked, he didn't spend that much time with Hagrid.

"Hagrid loves Dumbledore," James grinned. "This should be good."

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER —" he thundered, "— INSULT — ALBUS — DUMBLEDORE — IN — FRONT — OF — ME!" He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley — there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. **

"That's great," Sirius said and everyone but the Dursleys laughed.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them. **

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard. **

"**Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do." **

"Good old Hagrid," James laughed.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows. **

"**Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm — er — not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff — one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job." **

"Thanks, that makes me feel special," Harry said sarcastically.

"Come on Harry, Hagrid loves you," Neville said.

"**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry. **

"**Oh, well — I was at Hogwarts meself but I — er — got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

"**Why were you expelled?" **

"That's kind of personal Harry," Lily said.

"I was curious," Harry said. "Besides, don't you want to know?"

"That's besides the point," Lily said.

"Fine, then I won't tell you why," Harry smiled. Lily glared at him, but he didn't budge.

"He can take Lily's glare," Sirius said to James. "Your son had guts."

"No, I'm just use to glares," Harry said.

"I'm pretty sure you have guts too, Harry," Neville said.

Harry just shrugged.

"**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that." **

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry. **

"**You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' doormice in one o' the pockets."**

"That's it," Alice said.

"I'm next," Lily said holding out her hand for the book.


End file.
